Folkroom

Hi new followers (and old ones too). We run an online Zoom singaround every Saturday evening UK time – officially shanties and sea songs, but really anything you like. Drop us a DM if you'd like to know more

I'm sure they'll be in all the folk starter packs in no time at all, but with noting that @folkonfoot.bsky.social have joined the gang on here now!

An Instagram post from Taylor Swift captioned "I LOVE THE FALL"

Oh yeah? Name twenty-five of their albums.

A photo of a busy live music venue. Hattie Whitehead is onstage holding a guitar.

A gorgeous gig tonight with Hattie Whitehead and March. If you're in Nottingham or the East Midlands and like live folk music, give us a wave!

*Almost* selling out! But thank you - I'm just glad so many people will get to see Hattie and March play!

Anyway, if you're in Nottingham and want a cosy close to your weekend, there are a few tickets left on the door tonight for Hattie Whitehead and March at Peggy's Skylight. See you there?

Heading out for our monthly folk night in Nottingham - this is only our third gig, but we're more or less sold out! A huge relief - it's a tough time for live music, and there's a lot of fear in committing yourself (and very often your own money!) to events in a new city!

A farmers' revolt is coming

Brilliantly powerful writing from James Rebanks (@herdyshepherd.bsky.social) as ever. Given the media reporting you'd be forgiven for thinking farmers just want to keep their £millions from inheritance tax. The truth is far different.

unherd.com/2024/11/a-fa...

The one thing Twitter has going for it now, that we desperately need over here, is Bob Dylan's recent decision to start tweeting from his official account that had, for the past 15 years, been solely used for third-person official marketing.

BRING BOB TO BLUESKY.

Anyway, nothing funnier/more beautiful/more exciting than seeing groups like Molly No-Mates use traditional British culture to trample all over oppressive far-right fools.

When one of the far right's favourite pieces of rhetoric is to claim the dilution of our culture, this is really important to remember.

The solution isn't to assault other cultures. It is simply to stop neglecting our own.

We need to share and celebrate our culture, not suppress everyone else's.

There's a quote in this article from one of Molly No-Mates co-founders: "there's this idea that England didn't have any culture which is just not true. It's just that it's really neglected."

UK folk and traditional starter pack Join the conversation

I've started up a starter pack loosely based around the UK folk and traditional music scene and will be adding to it all the time. If you can think of any artists, organisations or mandolin-whittling interest groups I've missed please let me know!

go.bsky.app/D5A8kE4

Anyway, say hello. Come to gigs. We're mostly in Nottingham this year, with Hattie Whitehead playing Peggy's Skylight on Nov 17th and Burd Ellen at the same venue on Dec 15th. Next January 19th Martin Carthy joins us. Fun fun fun.

I am whatever the opposite of a gatekeeper is. Not for me, the strict rules we hold for music to. Let's open the gates, let's make sure everyone feels welcome in the good community!

Let's celebrate trad folk, but let's also play around with what folk is and can potentially be!

Modern Folk | Stephen Rötzsch Thomas | Substack Folkroom presents a regular newsletter exploring all things folk, and sharing the best new gigs and releases in (or teetering around the borders of) the genre. Click to read Modern Folk, by Stephen Rö...

I've recently launched Modern Folk, a newsletter/essay Hybrid Substack. It's very good and you should probably subscribe.

folkroom.substack.com

Right. Time to commit here, I reckon. Hello! Folkroom is mostly @srotzschthomas.bsky.social, putting on traditional and contemporary folk gigs in London, Nottingham and Brighton.

Occasionally Folkroom is also a label putting out music by the artists I love most.

Would have joined yesterday, but I was busy with the solstice*.

*Swearing at sky for choosing to rain only at the precise moments I stepped outside the house.

Hello! We're Folkroom, and we like you already.